While they should really be facing charges of crimes against humanity for the global misery they have inflicted, banks and business leaders instead continue to demonstrate a breathtaking absence of shame or sympathy for their fellow human beings. Those in our communities dependent on public services or state support for anything approaching a civilised existence, must be very afraid indeed of those now biting the hand that fed them.
Meanwhile, the General Election campaign is depressingly reduced to a mechanistic fight over Labour’s small increases in National Insurance or the Conservative alternative of even more swingeing cuts. Local elections rarely get a mention of course, but those of us who generally inhabit the corridors of local, rather than national government, are surprised by nothing these days and very aware of what a Conservative government would mean. Indeed, if you are curious about what a Cuddly Cameron future might look like, then look no further than a Conservative council near you.
Tory-led local government boasts of having made 50% more cuts – aka ‘efficiencies’ - than required by central government in the last CSR period. 23,000 jobs have disappeared in the last year, through redundancies or deletion of ‘frozen’ posts. Core services – especially in adult social care - are being axed by the minute and over 1.4 million workers – two thirds earning less than £18,000 – have had their pay frozen. Both major parties are guilty of choosing to freeze – or cut - Council Tax and reduce the local public funding base long before the elections.
Alongside closure of day centres, residential homes and loss of home care (yes, home care) and social work (yes, social work) jobs, also comes an assault on the public library service, with closures and restrictions on the service mushrooming. UNISON believes that local libraries represent a higher point in our common culture than many bankers, business men or council Leaders seem able to comprehend. They are worth fighting for, so we have been talking to library users, campaigners, writers and library workers to find out how we can protect and improve them in an era of austerity.
In our campaign, we find ourselves interestingly at one with Rolling Stone, Keith Richard. Keef, who while having trouble organising his own substantial book collection, recently professed a secret longing to be a librarian and described the importance of the public library to him:
“When you are growing up, there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.”
UNISON’s campaign to preserve this treasured ‘equaliser’ comes at a time when library statistics are posing some difficult questions. Around £1 billion of councils’ £11 billion budget is spent on libraries and in 2006-7, 337 million visits were made to the 4,500 of them. That’s more than to football matches and the cinema. Yet 40 libraries closed that year and more closures have followed. There are now just 3,500 libraries and CIPFA reported a 2.1% decline in library users to just (!) 12 million last year, with young people the least likely to use them. Nonetheless, loans to children have increased to 85 million since 2003-4, despite being fewer than a decade ago.
The fall in library usage coincides with some other interesting facts: CIPFA’s survey of book stock in UK public libraries in 1995-6 showed a total of 124 million books. The corresponding table for 2008-9 will show a reduction to 95 million, a figure thought to be an overestimate, since few libraries now hold an annual stock audit. The figure could be as low as 57 million, with a large council like Birmingham having cut its book fund every year for the last 10. Long opening hours have correspondingly suffered. 160 libraries were open for more than 60 hours weekly in 1975-6. That figure had shrunk to just 9 twenty years later. Small wonder then that ‘footfall’ has dropped.
Following our 2008 report, ‘Taking Stock: The Future of our Public Library Service’, UNISON’s recent Peoples’ Inquiry into the Public Library generated fascinating debate about how to extend opening hours, use of volunteers, funding of new buildings, the future for e-books, public access to IT and the role of libraries within the infrastructure of local communities. Some fascinating observations were made....
Libraries host many path-breaking initiatives such as book clubs for the visually impaired, children and the mentally ill, while a ‘Book Express’ service in Newport supports postal lending. Outreach work in schools and day centres is commonplace , while although access to computers and the internet is widespread, it could be better in areas of poor reception (Herefordshire). New super-libraries can be high on design, but low on books (Tower Hamlets’ Idea Store), while small and old buildings can house wonderful book collections (Amersham). Libraries ‘co-located’ with other council services can get ‘lost’ and lose their appeal, while establishing a library trust doesn’t guarantee high quality service or good treatment of staff. There will be more in the forthcoming report.....
Alongside UNISON’s Inquiry, our survey of over 2,500 library staff highlighted the view from the front line. 93% employees reported a change in their library service in the last 2 years – of whom 77% recorded a reduction in staff. Disappointingly, only 49% were consulted over the changes. 61% felt that their training was inadequate, while 35% had faced cuts in the training budget in the last year. While 88% felt valued by the public, only 38% felt valued by their managers. Over half felt that there were no career opportunities for them and 43% would not recommend a library career to others. Two thirds feel stressed at work and have low morale. Despite this, over 60% believe there is still a strong public service ethos.
In these testing times, many will derive their sense of belonging and access to the world from public services. Genuine community cohesion will be generated by public service workers, helping poor and vulnerable people to ‘a piece of the earth’. This sense of wellbeing and belonging will be no more acutely felt than in our public libraries – already used by many millions each year. It takes little imagination or wit to recognise that they hold the secret to improved literacy, support for outside learning, access to the world of IT and community wellbeing. Let’s just hope that whoever wins on 6 May is cute enough to recognise it.
